Ocean Design Likely To Stay

Volusia Was Concerned The Company May Leave But It Has Been Looking For A New Site In The County.

January 2, 2004|By John Wolfson, Sentinel Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- When a deal fell through nearly a year ago for an Ormond Beach manufacturer to move to Orange City, Volusia County officials fretted over the possible loss of 240 high-paying jobs in the local economy.

Ocean Design's customers, after all, work in oil. They conduct business in places such as Houston and Scotland, places where the company could easily relocate. Ocean Design was created in Volusia, but that didn't mean it had to stay.

So it was with much relief that the county's economic development director said it looks like a new deal will be completed soon to move the company to Daytona Beach.

"We feel confident they're going to remain in the area, and that something will get done in the first or second quarter of 2004," said Rick Michael, county economic development director.

"We're not exactly sure where it's going to be."

The county has been pushing a site near Interstate 95 and LPGA Boulevard, Michael said, but Ocean Design's consultant are also considering other area possibilities.

Representatives of the company could not be reached for comment.

Ocean Design makes deep-sea fiber-optic equipment.

The company has said it wants to leave Ormond Beach because it needs closer access to a major airport, a larger labor market and more efficient headquarters.

The company announced in May 2002 that it was going to build a 120,000-square-foot facility in Orange City near the Saxon Boulevard interchange.

At the time, Orange City Mayor Ted Erwin said the move was "beyond my wildest dreams."

That deal fell though, however, over failed land negotiations and a downturn in the economy.

Orange City is talking with other companies about the Saxon site, but Erwin was surprised to learn of Ocean Design's interest in Daytona Beach.

"They seemed to be fixated on an I-4 site," he said. "They wanted to be closer to Orlando."

As soon as the Orange City deal collapsed, Michael said, Volusia tried to interest Ocean Design in a 10-acre site on county-owned land near State Road 44 and I-4. However, the company's consultants didn't like that spot, he said, and refocused the search on east Volusia.

The company has been looking at the LPGA Boulevard site, he said.

"Right now, they have not identified a physical location," he said. "But they like that area. The developers they're working with like that idea."

Regardless of where they settle, he said, the important thing is it looks like they're staying in Volusia.

"One of the driving factors they have for being here is, well, the company was birthed here," he said. "But, really, they could have gone anywhere."